In order to make it even harder for the security community to disrupt their campaigns, cybercriminals also implement the random domain name generation tactic. This makes it more difficult for researchers to assess and shut down their operations, as of all the randomly generated domains initiating “phone home” command and control server communications, only a few will actually respond and will be registered and operated by the cybercriminals behind the campaign.

In this post, I’ll profile a recently launched DIY malicious domain name registering/managing service which makes it easier for cybercriminals to manage their domains portfolios. The service allows them to register randomly generated domains in mass, instantly change IPs and Name Servers, and cross-reference with anti-spam checklists for verification of clean/flagged IPs.

More details:

Sample screenshot of the entry page for the service:

The service allows filtering of the domains database that you registered using the service, including a handy option from a cybercriminal’s perspective to check whether any of the domains has been flagged as malicious by multiple Black Lists.

Second screenshot of the service:

Next is the option allowing the cybercriminals to choose their TLD. For the time being, the service offers .in (for $8); .org (for $8); and .pro (for $5), as well as a combination of all of these TLDs.

Third screenshot of the service:

The service successfully generated a bunch of pseudo-random domains to be used in upcoming malicious campaigns.

Sample screenshot of the service in action:

Once the domains have been generated, the service offers an automatic “free domain” verification service, and naturally, all of the pseudo-randomly generated domains are free for registration and abuse:

We’ll continue monitoring the development of this trend, and post updates as soon as new services become available.

[…] the sole owner of a registered trademark for the GI Bill with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. DIY Malicious Domain Name Registering Service Spotted in the Wild – 03-Dec-12Security researchers and security vendors are constantly profiling and blocking […]

[…] What would a cybercriminal do with all of these automatically registered bogus accounts? He’ll either monetize them by offering the accounts for sale, start directly spamming through them in an attempt to take advantage of DomainKeys verified nature of the services where applicable, or use them to register hundreds of potentially fraudulent or malicious domains. […]